The Original Singles: 1965–1967, Volume 1 is a compilation album

Compilation album

A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...

 by American rock 'n' roll band The Byrds

The Byrds

The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...

. Originally released in 1980, it offered, for the first time, all of the mono

Monaural

Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...

 single versions of the Byrds' singles released between 1965 and early 1967. The tracks on the album are laid out chronologically by release date of the single, and features the A-side first, then the B-side. For example, the Byrds' first single was "Mr. Tambourine Man" with "I Knew I'd Want You" on the B-side. The next single was "All I Really Want to Do" with "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" on the B-side, and so forth.

Sound quality

Some fans consider the sound quality of the recording, most notably on CD to be substandard. Although the 1980 album was acclaimed upon release, there were many complaints about the CD version. While the first UK version used single mono mixes sent from Columbia's studios, this was not the case with the CD version later issued in the USA. Compiler and Byrds biographer Johnny Rogan (whose liner notes appeared on all issued) was not involved in the CD version which clearly did not include the original version of 'Why' (the B-side of 'Eight Miles High') but instead featured the version from 1967's "Younger Than Yesterday".

Side 1

All tracks are in mono. They were all previously released on 45 RPM singles and most of them were also released on the mono versions of the Byrds' LPs Mr. Tambourine Man

Mr. Tambourine Man (album)

Mr. Tambourine Man is the debut album by the American folk rock band The Byrds and was released in June 1965 on Columbia Records . The album, along with the single of the same name, established the band as an internationally successful rock act and was also influential in originating the musical...

, Turn! Turn! Turn!

Turn! Turn! Turn! (album)

Turn! Turn! Turn! is the second album by the folk rock band The Byrds and was released in December 1965 on Columbia Records . Like its predecessor, Mr. Tambourine Man, the album epitomized the folk rock genre and continued the band's successful mix of vocal harmony and jangly twelve-string...

, Fifth Dimension

Fifth Dimension (album)

Fifth Dimension is the third album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in July 1966 on Columbia Records . Most of the album was recorded following the February 1966 departure of the band's principal songwriter Gene Clark...

or Younger Than Yesterday

Younger Than Yesterday

Younger Than Yesterday is the fourth album by the American rock band The Byrds and was released in February 1967 on Columbia Records . The album saw the band continuing to integrate elements of psychedelic rock into their music, a process they had begun on their previous LP...

.

1. "Mr. Tambourine Man
   Mr. Tambourine Man
   "Mr. Tambourine Man" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan, which was released on his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. The Byrds also recorded a version of the song that was released as their first single on Columbia Records, reaching number 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart and...
   
   " (Bob Dylan
   Bob Dylan
   Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
   
   ) - 2:20
2. "I Knew I'd Want You" (Gene Clark
   Gene Clark
   Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....
   
   ) - 2:14
3. "All I Really Want to Do" (Bob Dylan) - 2:03
4. "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" (Gene Clark) - 2:32
5. "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)" (Ecclesiastes/Pete Seeger
   Pete Seeger
   Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
   
   ) - 3:37
6. "She Don't Care About Time" (Gene Clark) - 2:30
7. "Set You Free This Time
   Set You Free This Time
   "Set You Free This Time" is a song by the American folk rock band The Byrds, written by band member Gene Clark and first released in December 1965 on the group's Turn! Turn! Turn! album. According to Clark, the song was written in just a few hours during The Byrds' 1965 British tour, after a night...
   
   " (Gene Clark) - 2:50
8. "It Won't Be Wrong
   It Won't Be Wrong
   "It Won't Be Wrong" is a song by the American folk rock band The Byrds, which appeared as the second track on their 1965 album, Turn! Turn! Turn! It was written in 1964 by band member Jim McGuinn and his friend, Harvey Gerst, an acquaintance from McGuinn's days as a folk singer at The Troubadour...
   
   " (Roger McGuinn
   Roger McGuinn
   James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
   
   , Harvey Gerst) - 1:58

Side 2

1. "Eight Miles High
   Eight Miles High
   "Eight Miles High" is a song by the American rock band The Byrds, written by Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn, and David Crosby and first released as a single on March 14, 1966 . The single managed to reach the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 30 of the UK Singles Chart...
   
   " (Gene Clark, Roger McGuinn, David Crosby
   David Crosby
   David Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...
   
   ) - 3:35
2. "Why
   Why (The Byrds song)
   "Why" is a song by the American rock band The Byrds, written by Jim McGuinn and David Crosby and first released as the B-side of the band's "Eight Miles High" single in March 1966. The song was re-recorded in December 1966 and released for a second time as part of the band's Younger Than Yesterday...
   
   " (Roger McGuinn, David Crosby) - 3:01
3. "5D (Fifth Dimension)
   5D (Fifth Dimension)
   "5D " is a song by the American rock band The Byrds, written by band member Jim McGuinn. It was released as a single on June 13, 1966 and reached #44 on the Billboard Hot 100 but failed to chart in the United Kingdom. The song was also included on the band's third album, Fifth Dimension, released...
   
   " (Roger McGuinn) - 2:34
4. "Captain Soul" (Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman
   Chris Hillman
   Christopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke....
   
   , Michael Clarke
   Michael Clarke (musician)
   Michael Clarke , was an American musician, best known as the drummer for the 1960s rock group The Byrds from 1964 to 1967. He died in 1993, at age 47, from liver failure, a direct result of more than three decades of heavy alcohol consumption.-Biography:Clarke was born Michael James Dick in...
   
   , David Crosby) - 2:35
5. "Mr. Spaceman
   Mr. Spaceman
   "Mr. Spaceman" is a song by the American rock band The Byrds and was the third track on their 1966 album Fifth Dimension. The song was initially written by band member Jim McGuinn as a "melodramatic screenplay" but it soon evolved into a whimsical meditation on the existence of extraterrestrial...
   
   " (Roger McGuinn) - 2:09
6. "What's Happening?!?!" (David Crosby) - 2:33
7. "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star
   So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star
   "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" is a song by the American rock band The Byrds, written by Jim McGuinn and Chris Hillman and included on their 1967 album, Younger Than Yesterday. The song was released as a single on January 9, 1967 and reached #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 but failed to...
   
   " (Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman) - 2:05
8. "Everybody's Been Burned" (David Crosby) - 3:02

Track notes

• The single version of "All I Really Want to Do" (featured on this album) is a completely different recording than the version released on the mono and stereo versions of the Mr. Tambourine Man album.
• "She Don't Care About Time" appeared on the B-side of the "Turn! Turn! Turn!" single, but was never included on a Byrds studio album.
• The single version of "Why" (featured on this album) is a completely different recording than the version released on the mono and stereo versions of the Younger Than Yesterday album.
  • The LP release of The Original Singles: 1965-1967, Volume 1 contains this single version of "Why", but the CD release, in error, includes the mono album version of "Why" (from Younger Than Yesterday) rather than the single version.